INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES IN STUDENTS RETENTION OF KNOWLEDGE AND CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURES LEARNED IN UNIVERSITY AND HIGH-SCHOOL COURSES - THE CASE OF TEST ANXIETY

The purpose of this research was to assess individual differences in s tudents' retention of knowledge several years after studying the mater ial. Assessment of retention of materials as a function of students' t est anxiety can allow one to evaluate whether high test-anxious studen ts' original deficient academic performance and organization of the ma terials are due to a retrieval deficit or a deficit in learning and kn owledge organization. In two studies, students with different test-anx iety levels completed tasks that enabled us to evaluate both students' levels of knowledge and their cognitive organization of the materials . The tasks were administered either at the end of the course, or at d ifferent retention intervals up to 7 years after the end of learning. Results indicated that whereas high test-anxious students tested at th e end of the courses performed worse than other students on tests of k nowledge and cognitive organization, high test-anxious students tested at various retention intervals after the courses performed as well as other students. The theoretical and practical implications of these r esults are discussed. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.